A Polish company steeped in tradition is disappearing from the stock exchange. It's too late to save it.

• Rafako has long been a stock exchange pioneer - the Racibórz company was present among the issuers on the Warsaw Stock Exchange for 31 years.
• In a few days, Rafako shares, which cost around 0.3 groszy each on Thursday, July 17, will be a memory, just like the entire company that was once the foundation of the energy construction industry.
• Rafako's bankruptcy and the consequent delisting of the company from the WSE could have been avoided, as we wrote about in detail in WNP a few months ago.

In 2011, after 40 years of thriving operations, followed by about 20 years of struggling operations, the Passenger Car Factory in Warsaw went bankrupt. A decade later, another iconic Polish brand, Ursus , went bankrupt. At the end of December 2024, a court approved the bankruptcy of Rafako , a company founded in 1949 and privatized in 1993. Six months later, on July 22, 2025, the Racibórz-based company's shares will be delisted from the stock exchange.

Rafako disappears from the Warsaw Stock Exchange after more than 30 years

Rafako shares will be delisted from the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, according to a resolution passed by the exchange's management board. The resolution stipulates that brokerage orders for Rafako shares submitted to the exchange but not executed by July 21, inclusive, will expire.

On Thursday, July 17th, a few days before the symbolic end of Rafako's presence on the Polish capital market, a single share of the company costs just 0.3 groszy , and the entire company is now worth only PLN 5 million on stock exchange paper. Interestingly, a few months after the court's final declaration of Rafako's bankruptcy, the bankrupt's valuation soared to PLN 300 million in a matter of days. At that time, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced state investment in the Racibórz-based company. This injected new energy into Rafako's stock market presence and boosted its market valuation by several hundred percent.

The carousel in Rafako shares could have caused consternation among stock market players, as the company, whose bankruptcy had been approved for months, was gaining several dozen percent daily. Moreover, this occurred with the active participation of politicians. There were announcements, conferences, and millions of złotys traded in Rafako shares. Until now.

In the public sphere, among people no matter how interested in the topic, the same question keeps recurring: how did Rafako go bankrupt and why, despite the announcements, it was not possible to save it?

The anatomy of Rafako's fall, or a multitude of mistakes and a lack of good will

Rafako had been in need of debt relief and capital injections for many years. The problem, however, was that the company's creditors (financial entities providing guarantees for the construction of a 910 MW coal-fired power unit in Jaworzno: PKO BP, BGK PZU, and mBank) conditioned their consent to convert the debt into equity on the company securing an investor . Potential investors, in turn, were reluctant to take on Rafako's long-standing and enormous debts. And so the vicious cycle continued until the company went bankrupt.

The origins of the bankruptcy can be traced to several factors: the settlement regarding the 910 MW unit in Jaworzno , investment fiascos in the lawsuits with MS Galleon and later with PG Energy , poor management, unprofitable contracts, and the expectation that the state—which had already pumped millions of zlotys into Rafako—would extend a protective umbrella over the company. This last factor, in particular, remained in the game for survival the longest.

As a reminder, the Industrial Development Agency granted Rafako PLN 100 million in public aid in 2021, intended to stabilize the situation and facilitate contract acquisition. This public aid was granted in the form of a 120-month bond issue. Therefore, a significant portion of the public funds invested in Rafako appears irrecoverable.

How Donald Tusk "saved" Rafako, or the course towards the arms industry

As we mentioned at the beginning of the text, Donald Tusk added fuel to the fire in the Rafako case in mid-April 2025.

The Prime Minister then announced that the state would invest in maintaining Rafako. The plant, which had operated in the energy sector for years, would be converted to arms production. The Prime Minister then announced a decision to transfer over PLN 700 million to the Industrial Development Agency (ARP) to assist Rafako, among others, in launching a new line of business.

"There's nothing stopping us from launching arms production in a place where boilers were once made. Rafako could be such a place," the Prime Minister said on April 15th. And then it all began. Rafako's share price rose by 45 percent that day, and by a staggering 80 percent the next. Investors and speculators literally pounced on the shares of the bankrupt Racibórz-based company, driving its value up by over 120 million złoty in three days. This was based solely on the Prime Minister's announcements.

As a result, on April 29th, a single Rafako share closed at PLN 1.70, despite the fact that the court had already approved its bankruptcy four months earlier. This was a periodic peak in trading, absurd given the facts.

- Rafako, Racibórz, Silesia - this could be a place where production for the defense of Poland or Europe could reach a large scale - the Prime Minister pointed out at the time.

It turned out that the new deal, the new chapter, the new reality, would not apply to the Rafako joint-stock company. In its place, RFK was established, with shares held by the Industrial Development Agency, Polimex Mostostal, and the Silesia Financial Society. It was RFK that took over Rafako's key assets under a lease and is expected to operate in the railway and defense sectors.

At the end of June, RFK announced the signing of an asset lease agreement between RFK and the bankruptcy trustee of Rafako S.A. Currently, RFK does not conduct business, but any future business activity will be based on the assets acquired from Rafako.

It's Thursday, July 17, 2025. On Tuesday, July 22, Rafako shares will be delisted, meaning trading will continue until Monday. Stock market players hoping for excitement and potential casino-style profits have two more trading sessions to speculate on the Racibórz-based company's shares. Although the sad ending is merely a formality, the volatility in the search for risky profits may still surprise us.